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| Photography by AT Monaco |
For the month of October, 2019, the United States resettled not a single refugee! Of the millions of displaced people in the world, we admitted none? How is that possible? How did we even come to this point? How does an Administration supported by evangelicals succeed in making the nation turn its back on the destitute? Where is the outcry from Christian supporters whose faith should inform them that love, care and justice for the refugee, the destitute, is high on God's agenda? As Christmas approaches, let us not forget that Jesus was born a refugee.
If faith doesn't inform, how about the basic moral code of taking responsibility for one's actions? According to Scott Arbeiter, president of World Relief, this pause in taking in refugees is not only heartbreaking, it is unjust. “Withdrawing our troops from Syria meant unleashing chaos in the region and forcing even more people to flee their homes. To refuse to open our doors is to abdicate responsibility for a scenario to which we as a nation have contributed." It may behoove us to find out what percentage of people fleeing their homes in recent history has been the result of US policies and intrusion into their homelands..
If faith and morality can't move hearts, how about basic human compassion? Imagine you and your family as refugees, all vetted, holding tightly your precious documents, waiting to board that flight to safety and a future...then to find out that the flight has been canceled due to a change of policy in the United States? You look at the faces of your excited children, your heart breaking at having to take away their laughter yet again. You can't even assure them that it will be a brief delay. And even if it were to be the case, your security checks would probably expire by then, and it may be months or years before your number is up again.
If faith, morality and humanity can't inform us of the plight of refugees, what else is left? Are we then a nation without a soul, where only greed and self-interests dictate policy and action?
Deuteronomy 27:19
'Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'
Psalm 146:9
The LORD watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
Prover 31: 8--9
Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.
Luke 10:25-37
But he, desiring to justify himself, [the expert of the law] said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus told him the story of "The Good Samaritan," followed by the question, "Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" The expert said said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."
